Highway guardrail



Sept. 12, 1939- M. w. WERTMAN 2,

HIGHWAY GUARDRAIL .Filed Dec. 23, 1936 Patented Sept. 12, 1939 UNITEDSTATES PATENT OFFICE- HIGHWAY GUARDRAIL Millard W. Wertman, Allentown,Pa., assignor to Utilities Service Company, Allentown, Pa., acorporation of Pennsylvania Application December 23, 1936, Serial No.117,395 9 Claims. Cl. 256-13.1)

This invention relates to highway guard rails. A further object is toprovide an installation As is well known, highway guard rails are ofthis character wherein the structure is greatin common use as means ofprotection adjacent ly simplified and the number of parts and timecurves and fills on highways, and it has become involved in theinstallation are minimized.

the increasing practice to use elongated steel A further object is toprovide an installation plates in the making of such guard rails. Suchwhich has a high degree of adaptability to plain plates usually aredirectly supported at their rope guards by a simple relocation of one orends by spaced relatively heavy vertical posts, more of the old rop andwhile such a device is a substantial improve- Other objects andadvantages of the invenment over the older method of connecting horitionwill become apparent during the course of 1'0 zontal wooden railsbetween. the posts, it is open the following description.

to several objections. For example, steel guard In the drawing I haveshown one embodiment rails of the character referred to possess a suboithe invention. In this showing: stantial degree of resiliency betweenthe sup- Figure 1 is a perspective. view of a portion of a.

porting posts and their resiliency decreases toguard rail installation,15" ward the posts. The guard rails having their Figure 2 is an enlargedsectional view on line ends directly connected to the supporting posts,2-2 of Figure 1, it is apparent that they possess substantially noFigure 3 is a plan View showing the connecresiliency at their points ofconnection with the tion of a pair f j t buffer plate sections to posts.the supporting cables, 0

To overcome such difficulty, some steel guard Figure 4 s a ar elevationf t S rail installations are now made with the rails i e 5 s a r c d p iw of a p n spaced from the supporting posts, and connected f t einstallation, with respect thereto by steel cushioning members. Figurefiis a detail horizontal sectional view While such construction isadvantageous over the On e 'e'- of Figure 5 direct connection of therails to the posts, the Referring o Figures 5 d it W l b noted cushionsupporting members ossess avery greatthat the present invention p ys a pu ity 1y reduced resiliency as compared with the reof relativelir vyvertical upp p s 1 siliency of the guard rails intermediate the posts.of the usual yp e d in the ground in a A further disadvantage of manysteel guard Cordehee With the customary practice A p u- 3o railinstallations lies in the fact that they frerality f vertically spacedhorizontal v ly quently present substantial projections or lndenheavycables H t d between the pp rti tations which engage portions of avehicle con- D In the drawing, two of the Cables ii are ta ti it thguard te Thus unnecesillustrated, and while two cables are preferablysary damage results to avehicle striking against y d. t wi l becomeappare t t at thr e 5 the guard rails and the latter are subjected tomore Cables y he used if desired- These unnecessarily great destructiveforces. are connected to the p s it? by means An important object of thepresent invention is Which permits quick and y installation, a d toprovide a, steel guard rail installation made Which permits readyreplacement Of a p s if a 40 up of a plurality of steel or similarsections arguard rail adjace t the P Should be subjected 40 ranged inend to end relation and presenting to such an impact as to break thepost and rea substantially continuous and'unbroken surface quire itsreplacement such purposes, bolts throughout the length of theinstallation. l2 extend through the posts and are threaded A furtherobject is to provide an installation at their outer ends for receptionin nuts it. The

5 of this character wherein the guard rails possess inner ends of thebolts are provided with open substantially uniform resiliency throughouttheir hooks i l engageable with the cables to support length, thusminimizing the transmission of dethem in position with respect to theposts. Bestructive forces to the installation as a whole, yon'd the endposts, it will be apparent that the and particularly to the supportingposts thereof. cables may be anchored in any suitable manner.

A further object is to provide a guard rail in- A plurality of elongatedbuffer plates i5 are 5D stallation wherein steel buffer plates aresuparranged in end to end relation inwardly of ported by relativelyheavy cables extending bethe cables H. Each of these plates has its twotween the supporting posts, the plates being end portions extendingoutwardly as at IE5, to wholly free from the supporting posts to preventspace the body-of the plate from the cables II.

any reduction in the-resiliencyof the plates; The extremities of theplates are turned back 55 upon themselves to form attaching ends I 1which are parallel to the bodies of the plates, as clearly shown inFigure 3.

It will be apparent that each spacing member I6 of each plate lies incontact with the adjacent spacing member I6 of the next adjacent plate,as also shown in Figure 3, and since these members are bentsubstantially at right angles to the bodies of the plates I5, thesuccessive plates have their outer faces forming substantially a singlecontinuous and unbroken buffer surface. The attaching ends I! of theplates are secured to each of the cables II by U-bolts I8. These U-bolts are angularly arranged as clearly shown in Figure 4 to straddlethe respective cables II and to permit the ends of each U-bolt to extendthrough the respective adjacent attaching ends I 1. Each U-bolt isprovided at its ends with nuts I9 engageable against the inner faces ofthe respective adjacent attaching ends II.

It will be apparent that the buffer plates are supported solely by thecables II, the points of connection of the plates with the cables beingpreferably spaced the posts II] to take advantage of the substantiallateral resiliency offered by the cables II. In

practice, it is preferred that the individual plates,

l5 be equal in length to one-half the distance between the centers ofthe posts ID. This proportion permits the connection of the ends of eachadjacent pair of plates I5 to the pair of cables II at a point spacedone-quarter of the distance between the adjacent post I 0 and the nextpost, as shown in Figure 5.

The operation of the device is as follows:

As previously stated, the arrangement of the adjacent plates I5 withrespect to each other provides a guard rail having a smooth unbrokensurface throughout its length and accordingly there are no projectionsor substantial depressions in which parts of a motor vehicle can solidlyengage when striking the buifer plates at an angle. When a vehicle,leaving the road, is impacted against the guard rail, the particularplate I5 which is struck possesses a substantial degree of resiliencyintermediate its length to greatly cushion the force of the blow. Whilethe resiliency of each plate decreases toward its ends, this reductionin resiliency is compensated for by the fact that the plates areresiliently supported at their ends by the cables I I. In an impact ofgiven force, the cables II will be deflected laterally to a greaterextent when the blow occurs adjacent the end of one of the plates I5, aswill be apparent.

It will be apparent that no steel cushioning member of the type referredto is employed for supporting the individual plates I5, each of theseplates having the integral spacer portions It which space them thedesired distance away from the cables II. Instead of employing steelcushioning members for both spacing and cushioning the plates, thecushioning is provided by the supporting cables II The attachment of theplates I5 to the cables is accomplished by the use of standard U-boltsI8. Since the U-bolts are angularly arranged as shown in Figure 4, theattaching ends I! are provided with bolt receiving openings unequallyspaced from the top and bottom edges of the attaching ends, as will beobvious. Each buffer plate is formed from a single sheet of flat metal,thus permitting them to be economically manufactured. Any suitablematerial may be employed in the manufacture of the plates, and it isdesired lateral resiliency of the cables II.

a substantial distance from preferred that the plates be made of steelpossessing a substantial degree of resiliency.

As previously stated, the length of each plate is preferably one-halfthe distance between centers of the posts I0, thus permitting thecontacting ends of each pair of plates to be spaced from the adjacentposts a distance approximately equal to one-quarter the distance betweenthe posts. This arrangement permits the ends of the plates to beconnected to the cables II at suflicient distances from the posts toutilize the Moreover, each plate will have its ends connected the samedistance from the adjacent posts, and it will be apparent that thecables II provide the same degree of lateral resiliency at the ends ofall of the plates I5.

In the event the impact of a vehicle against the guard rail occursadjacent one of the posts I0 and is sufiiciently great to deflect thecenter of the plate against the post and break the latter, the destroyedpost may be quickly and easily replaced without destroying any of theother parts of the device. Upon the breaking of a post, the bolts I2thereof are removed from the post, and the base of the post is removedfrom the ground. A new post is placed in position, whereupon bolts I 2,which may have been previously loosely inserted in the new post, may betightened to engage the cables II.

Moreover, it will be apparent that in the event one of the plates shouldbe broken or substantially deflected beyond its elastic limit so as torender it unsuitable for further use, it may be readily replaced. Itmerely is necessary to remove the nuts of the U-bolts by means of whichthe damaged plate is secured in position, whereupon the plate may bewithdrawn inwardly, and a new plate placed in position. The nuts whichhave been removed from the U-bolts then may be replaced, and theoriginal condition of the guard rail accordingly may be quickly andeasily restored.

It is to be understood that the form of the invention herewith shownanddescribed is to be taken as a preferred example of the same and thatvarious changes in the shape, size and ar rangement of parts may beresorted to without departing from the spirit of the invention or thescope of the sub-joined claims.

I claim;

1. A guard rail comprising a plurality of fixed vertical posts, flexiblemeans connected between said posts, and a plurality of buffer platesspaced from said flexible means, the adjacent ends of said plates beingturned inwardly substantially at right angles thereto and then turnedback in the direction of the bodies of the plates to provide attachingends parallel thereto, and means for securing said attaching ends tosaid flexible means at points spaced from said posts.

2. A highway guard rail comprising a plurality of fixed vertical posts,a plurality of flexible cables connected between said posts and lying ina vertical plane, and a plurality of buffer plates arranged end to endin spaced parallel relation to said cables, each buffer plate having itsend portions turned toward said cables substantially at right angles tothe body of the plate to form spacing members, the extremity of eachplate adjacent each spacing member extending parallel to the body of thecorresponding buffer plate to form an attaching end, and means forsecuring adjacent pairs of attaching ends to said cables.

3. A highway guard rail comprising a-plurality .75

of fixed vertical posts, a plurality of cables extending between saidpos and a pair of buffer plates arranged end to end in spaced parallelrelation to said cables, the adjacent end portions of said plates beingturned toward said cables, and means for securing such end portionsdirectly to said cables.

4. A highway guard rail comprising a plurality of fixed vertical posts,a plurality of cables extending between said posts and secured thereto,a pair of buffer plates having their body portions arranged incontacting end to end relation parallel to said cables, the end portionsof said plates being oiiset therefrom toward said cables and engagingthe latter to provide spacing and attaching portions, and means forsecuring the latter portions of the plates to said cables.

5. A highway guard rail comprising a plurality of fixed vertical posts,a plurality of cables extending between said posts and secured thereto,and a pair of buffer plates having their body portions arranged incontacting end to end relation parallel to said cables, each platehaving end portions offset toward and engaging said cables to space saidplates from said cables, and common means for securing the adjacent endportions of said pair of plates to said cables.

6. A highway guard rail comprising a plurality of fixed vertical posts,a plurality of cables extending between said posts, hook bolts forattaching said cables to said posts, and a pair of buffer platesarranged end to end in spaced parallel relation to said cables, theadjacent end portions of said plates being turned toward said cablessubstantially at right angles to the bodies of the respective plates toform parallel spacing members contacting with each other, theextremities of the plates being turned away from each other in a planesubstantially parallel to the plane of the bodies of the plates to formattaching ends, and means for securing said attaching ends to saidcables.

'7. A highway guard rail comprising a plurality of fixed vertical posts,a plurality of cables extending between said posts and secured thereto,a pair of buffer plates having their body portions arranged incontacting end to end relation par allel to said cables, said plateshaving their adjacent extremities offset from the body portions of saidplates parallel thereto and contacting with said cables, and a U-boltfor attaching said extremities of said plates to each of said cables,each U-bolt being angularly arranged to straddle one of said cables andto extend through the respective extremities of said plates.

8. A highway guard rail comprising a plurality of rigid posts, aplurality of vertically spaced flexible members connected between saidposts, a plurality of flexible metallic bumper plates having their bodyportions arranged in contacting end to end relation parallel to andspaced from said flexible members, each buffer plate being of a lengthapproximately equal to one-half the distance between the centers of saidposts and each alternate plate having its ends equidistantly spaced onopposite sides of one of said posts, each buffer plate having itsextremities extending toward said flexible members, and means forconnecting the extremities of said plates to said flexible members.

9. A highway guard rail comprising a plurality of fixed vertical posts,a pair of flexible structures one formed of a plurality of cables andthe other formed of a plurality of buffer plates having their bodyportions arranged in contacting end to end relation parallel to saidcables, each plate having end portions ofiset toward and engaging saidcables to space said plates from said cables, means for securing theoffset portions of said plates to said cables, and means for connectingone of said flexible structures to said posts at points equidistantlyspaced from the offset ends of alternate plates.

MLLARD W. WERTMAN.

